Oil giant Shell has won an appeal against a landmark court ruling in the Netherlands to cut emissions and fight climate change.
The court on Tuesday rejected a historic climate change ruling against Shell after the company was ordered to drastically cut global carbon emissions as early as 2021.
The outcome, which came in the early days of the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, marks the latest twist in a precedent-setting case that could have far-reaching implications for future climate litigation.
The Court of Appeal in The Hague said that while Shell was obliged to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions, it was unable to determine the scale of those reductions. The case against Shell was therefore dismissed in its entirety.
In May 2021, the District Court of The Hague ruled that Shell must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent from 2019 levels by 2030.
The verdict, which was handed down while Shell was headquartered in The Hague, also said the company was responsible for all emissions in its supply chain, including those associated with the products it sells – so-called category three emissions.
It was the first time in history that a company was legally obliged to align its policies with the Paris Agreement, which aims to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis by limiting the increase in average global temperatures to 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius.
The decision was seen as a watershed moment in the fight for climate change and sparked a wave of lawsuits against other fossil fuel companies.
